The Billionaires Collection. Оливия Гейтс

was in the lounge and Matteo thanked her and walked through.

      Giovanni was sitting, staring out to the lake, and Matteo knocked on the open door to alert him that he was here.

      ‘Matteo!’ He turned and gave a smile of delight and went to stand but Matteo waved him down and went over and kissed him on the cheeks.

      A pang of guilt hit Matteo when he felt the frail shoulders beneath his hands and saw his grandfather’s tired, lined face.

      ‘You’ve been busy,’ Giovanni said.

      ‘Yes, I have to say I like the motor racing world.’

      ‘I see your team won the cup. I got up early and watched the race.’ Then Giovanni’s face grew serious. ‘It’s not good news, is it?’

      It felt like good news to Matteo.

      He was crazy about someone for the first time in his life but, no, there was no need for Giovanni to know all that.

      ‘Not really,’ Matteo said and he took a seat. ‘I tracked down the necklace. It had been bought by...’

      ‘Ellison!’ Giovanni rolled his eyes. ‘I guessed that much when I saw you with his daughter. I don’t think you’ve ever been with a woman that long.’

      ‘Her name’s Abby,’ Matteo said. ‘And I’ve been sponsoring her team. When I first met with Ellison he said that he wanted me to get his daughter to a function that he’s holding this Friday. If Abby’s wearing the necklace, then it’s mine.’

      ‘And?’ Giovanni frowned. He didn’t see the problem. ‘Surely she can wear it for just one night?’

      ‘It’s her mother’s necklace,’ Matteo said. ‘Abby wore the necklace the night that her team placed first. I’m sure it must mean a lot to her and I’m not going to take it from her.’ He continued. ‘I can’t.’

      ‘Even though you know it means everything to me.’

      ‘Even knowing that,’ Matteo said.

      ‘You’re in love?’

      ‘I think so.’ Matteo admitted as much as he dared, because love wasn’t a place that he knew. ‘What I do know for sure, though, is that I care about her and I’m going to do whatever it takes not to cause her pain.’

      He was not his father’s son, Giovanni realised.

      Matteo was very much his own man.

      ‘I hate letting you down.’ Matteo continued to speak as Giovanni took the news in. ‘I know that I told you I’d bring the necklace to you but, at the end of the day, I can’t do that to her.’

      Giovanni sat back in the chair and looked out to the lake. He wanted the necklace so badly. A part of him had hoped that finding the Lost Mistresses, and having them together again, might somehow heal his fractured family. And yet, while he ached to have the necklace that meant so very much back in his possession, maybe its magic had already worked. Giovanni had never heard his youngest grandson speak of anyone in this way.

      ‘Could I see it again,’ Giovanni asked. ‘Do you think, if you explained things to Abby, that maybe she would let me hold it one more time?’

      ‘I think so.’ Matteo’s response was cautious. ‘The thing is...’ He blew out a breath. ‘It might take a bit of time to get her to agree. I’m going to have to tell Abby that the necklace is the reason I first got in touch. If I know Abby at all, then that isn’t going to go down very well.’

      ‘You’re going to be in trouble again.’ Giovanni smiled.

      ‘For sure,’ Matteo agreed. ‘Let me work on it.’

      And work on it he did.

      It was quite a busy few days for Matteo but he did make the time to call Abby and he could hear the surprise in her voice.

      ‘I just wanted to see how everyone pulled up after the celebrations,’ Matteo said.

      ‘Well, I don’t think anyone has pulled up yet,’ Abby admitted. ‘I don’t think anyone’s coming back to earth any time soon. We’ve got the big presentation and party in LA on Friday. You could come...’ She tried to keep her voice light, to not build her hopes up that he had called her.

      Actually, Matteo couldn’t be there for the presentation in LA, not that he could tell her why.

      ‘I can’t make it on Friday. Will Hunter be there?’ he checked.

      ‘Nope,’ Abby said. ‘He’s gone to ground.’

      ‘Good. So when will you be back?’

      ‘On Saturday afternoon.’

      ‘Would you like to go out for dinner?’ Matteo casually asked, as if he hadn’t already booked the restaurant, as if all the plans he had made this week didn’t depend on her response.

      There was a long stretch of silence before she answered.

      Long, because she hadn’t expected his call and now an invitation to dinner on the very night she got back was a little more than she dared to glimpse.

      He might just want to discuss the team, Abby attempted to warn herself, but her heart refused to be reeled in.

      Oh, please don’t hurt me, Abby thought.

      Please don’t get my hopes up high because I accepted a one-night stand when you said it could be no more than that.

      ‘Yes.’ Abby cleared her throat and did her best to sound as if it wasn’t such a big deal. ‘Dinner sounds great.’

      ‘Saturday, then. Text me your address. I’ll be there about eight.’

      He didn’t await her response; Matteo, too, was having trouble keeping things even.

      On Friday he walked into a very exclusive jewellers.

      ‘I’ve never worked so hard,’ the jeweller said and when he showed Matteo the final piece Matteo could see the hours and skill that the jeweller had put into this masterpiece.

      Even though the jeweller had only a photo to go on, it could have been made by the same designer!

      The emerald sat up high on a platinum setting and it really was a work of art.

      No, he hadn’t had a replica of the necklace made.

      You could never fully replicate the real thing.

      And the necklace was the real thing, Matteo was very sure.

      And so he’d had made a ring.

      ‘I can’t see anything on the photograph of the necklace to indicate origins,’ the jeweller admitted.

      ‘It’s all a bit of a mystery.’ Matteo was also bemused but his grandfather had remained unforthcoming.

      ‘She’s a very lucky lady,’ the jeweller said as he nestled the ring into a box Matteo had had designed to match the case for the necklace.

      ‘I might have to remind her of that,’ Matteo said, imagining Abby’s reaction when he told her the truth.

      He was nervous to tell her about the necklace—of course he was—but with this ring...

      He got back to his apartment and put the photo of the necklace and the ring in his safe and then lay back on the bed and tried to plan his speech for tomorrow. Matteo didn’t get very far. He could never quite get past the bit where he told Abby that he’d stood in her father’s study and come up with a plan to sponsor her, without imagining his face being slapped.

      Deciding that he’d just have to wing it at dinner tomorrow, he dozed off.

      Matteo woke to his phone buzzing and the sight of a skyline that was backed by a dusky pink sky.

      ‘Abby?’ he said, sitting up. ‘What time is it there?’